Woman given six years in overdose death

A South Side woman was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for supplying the drugs that caused one death and one near-fatal overdose last year.

Paris L. Hatton, 31, who used to live in the 1100 block of Lilley Avenue, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of corrupting another with drugs.

The sentence, imposed by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Kim Brown, was recommended by prosecuting and defense attorneys as part of a plea agreement.

Lewis Jemison and Crystal Stumbo overdosed after purchasing what they thought was heroin from Hatton on Feb. 10, 2016, said Assistant Prosecutor Lizett Schreiber.

Jemison, 24, injected himself at a United Dairy Farmers store on the Far East Side and was found nearby at the intersection of Noe-Bixby Road and Talbert Drive. He died the following day.

Schreiber said an autopsy determined that the cause of death was acute intoxication from the combined effects of heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller more potent than morphine.

Stumbo, 37, overdosed after injecting the drugs at her home. Columbus fire paramedics saved her life with two doses of Narcan, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Stumbo and a witness identified Hatton as the person who sold the drugs, Schreiber said. Hatton confessed when she was interviewed by detectives, she said.

Defense attorney Rena Passas said the incident “was one of the only times” her client “had engaged in this type of activity.”

Hatton apologized in court to the victim’s family members, none of whom attended the hearing. Schreiber said multiple efforts to contact Stumbo’s and Jemison’s families about the plea were unsuccessful.

The case is the latest in a series of prosecutions that have resulted from investigations by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Heroin Overdose Prevention and Education (HOPE) Task Force. The investigators work with the prosecutor’s office to bring charges against those who supply drugs that lead to fatal and near-fatal opioid overdoses.